Best-value private law schools named; Brigham Young tops list with A grade

Brigham Young University tops a list of the best-value private law schools.

BYU is the only school getting an A grade on the list by National Jurist, and it’s the only private law school on National Jurist’s overall list of best-value law schools, which will be released in October. Above the Law published the list of National Jurist’s 21 best-value private schools and added “employment and financial fun facts” culled from U.S. News, Law School Transparency and a law professor’s scholarship retention study.

Here are the top five by letter grade, along with some of the additional information provided by Above the Law:

• Brigham Young University (A). The average indebtedness of 2012 graduates with law school debts was $56,112; 63.9% of 2012 graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs

• Baylor University School of Law (B). The average indebtedness of 2012 graduates with law school debts was $99,852; 68.3% of 2012 graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.

• Notre Dame Law School (B). The average indebtedness of 2012 graduates with law school debts was $101,512; 66.8% of 2012 graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.

• Duquesne University (B). The average indebtedness of 2012 graduates with law school debts was $100,081; 52.7% of 2012 graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.

• Hamline University (B). The average indebtedness of 2012 graduates with law school debts was $104,647; 42.6% of 2012 graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs.

Other schools on the list had grades ranging from B- to C+. Yale and Stanford law schools, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively by U.S. News, both received a B- on the National Jurist best-value list. Harvard, which tied with Stanford for the No. 2 spot by U.S. News, did not make the best-value list.

National Jurist’s best-value rankings are based on tuition, debt, cost of living, percentage of employed grads and bar pass rates. According to the press release, “The study is designed to identify and recognize law schools that help students pass the bar exam and land jobs without burdening them with huge debt.”